vojvode | The bar, rooftop

He'd spent the last few hours ghosting through the woods, trying to find a way back to his home, but it was proving a fruitless search.

And so, he finds himself outside the bar, looking up at the door Javert disappeared through just yesterday. He doesn't want to go in. He doesn't want to face Rae again, not now. Maybe not ever. And he doesn't want to face the man, either. Not like this. He's whole again, but the wolf still clings to him. He feels like a barbarian, or a wildling. He doesn't feel like a Prince right now. He feels like a beast of the wood.

So he retreats to the rooftops, finding the highest place he can with a bit of cover from the wind. He settles in with his back against the wall, his white shirt unpinned, and his cuffs hanging lose. His trousers are tucked into the tops of his riding boots, and he doesn't want to think about how his boots look. (Or who is going to polish them, now that Abel is gone.) He sits with one knee drawn up, and his arm resting on it. The other is clutched across his body.

He keeps his mind closed, shutting out the dim roar of the minds below. He doesn't want to think anymore right now. He just wants a moment of stillness.

(Be still. Stay with me.)

This place will surely be the end of him.

Threaded | Flat

The bar was, eventually, a little much. He has spoken to many people since his return, but most of the conversations are slipping away. He needs some peace, and to try and find some of what he has lost.

When he felt troubled at home, he would walk. It does not feel safe to do so here. But he has found one place that is as close to sanctuary as he can get, so he makes for it now.

The ladders do not trouble his injured hand, though he is aching by the time he reaches the roof. And the stars are out. After hours of subjecting himself to the exploding universe inside, it is a relief to see them where they should be. He spends a moment just looking up.

And then, as he ever does, begins to walk the edge, swinging a foot out over the drop and bringing it back to safety. He will not fall.

He will not allow himself to fall.

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